The Georgian parliament on Tuesday adopted a bill on “family values” and against the “propaganda of homosexual relations”. The step was denounced by the EU, the United States, the UN and organizations as restricting the rights of the LGBT+ community.
The legislation, similar to that in Russia, was approved by lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party in a vote boycotted by the opposition. The Georgian government is in the midst of a conservative and anti-Western shift.
The adoption of the text could fuel tensions in the Caucasian country ahead of crucial parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26. A total of 84 deputies voted for it and 0 against, according to an official count.
Incest and homosexuality on the same level
The bill was voted on at the end of June in its first reading and was therefore definitively validated on Tuesday. It must now be signed by the pro-Western president Salome Zourabichvili, who has broken with the government, or, if she refuses, by the president of Parliament.
The text prohibits “propaganda of homosexual relations and incest” in educational institutions and television broadcasts, and also restricts “gatherings and demonstrations.” Rights groups have criticized the wording as equating incest with homosexuality.
In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Tuesday for the repeal of the law. It provides for discrimination and threatens many human rights, a spokeswoman said. The European Union (EU) had declared in early September that the text “undermines the fundamental rights of Georgians and risks reinforcing the stigmatization and discrimination of a part of the population.”
Parliament Speaker Chalva Papuashvili, who supported the bill, said the text aimed to “strengthen the mechanisms for protecting minors and family values based on the union of a woman and a man.”
EU membership ‘in jeopardy’
In Russia, similar legislation cracking down on “LGBT propaganda” was passed about a decade ago. Moscow has since expanded it considerably, even adding the “international LGBT movement” to its list of entities declared “terrorist and extremist,” even though no organization bears that name in the country.
Georgia has been shaken in recent months by massive demonstrations against a law on “foreign influence”, which has been sharply criticised in the West and is again similar to Russia’s legislation on “foreign agents” which has contributed to the repression of all opposition in that country.
Opponents accuse the Georgian Dream party of jeopardizing their country’s hoped-for membership in the European Union.
EU accession process suspended
Georgia was granted EU candidate status in December 2023, but accession negotiations have not yet started. The country also aspires to join NATO.
However, EU leaders had decided before the summer to “de facto” halt the accession process pending a change of policy in Tbilisi.
afp/miro
